California Refuse Recycling Council: Advocating for the Next Generation of Solid Waste Legislation

Created out of a need for waste haulers to respond to government decisions, the CRRC has grown to a pivotal organization in California that has a hand in influencing the waste industry’s legislation issues.

In the 1950s when several waste haulers in Northern and Southern California saw that pending legislation in Sacramento would impact them and the waste industry, they banded together to lead the fight against a bill that would have cost the industry several hundreds of thousands of dollars statewide. From that first get together, the group decided to form an organization that would represent them in legislative matters and respond to what was happening in state government. These companies knew that they would tackle these issues better if they were organized and so the California Refuse Recycling Council (CRRC) was born.

Today, the organization consists of two Districts—the Northern District, which covers territory from the Northern border to the Kings County line, and the Southern District, which covers Kings County to the Southern border of California. Two categories of members make up the CRRC. There are regular members who are waste haulers and associate members who are the suppliers to the waste industry. Numbering more than 100 members collectively, the majority of the waste haulers in California are members of the organization. Kelly Astor, General Counsel and Legislative Representative for the Southern District of the CRRC, points out that people join for a variety of reasons. “The essential mission of the organization was always to monitor and legitimately influence state legislative or regulatory outcomes. I think that people also participate because they find an advantage in sitting down with their peers and discussing what is new in the industry—if there is new equipment rolling out, if there is a new requirement on the books, what they need to do to comply, etc.” Since representatives from the two Districts meet twice monthly, there are always lunches and social hours that allow members the chance to talk about trends, environmental issues and other topics of interest. The Northern and Southern District Boards meet early in the month, while later in the month, the CRRC State Executive Committee meets—this is only comprised of the officers from each District.

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